June 10, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



Benefits of Uniform Inspection Rules 



The last paper of Tliuisday afternoon's session was prepared by 

 E. W. MeCulIough, secretary and general manager of the National 

 Implement and Vehicle Association, Chicago, his subject relating to 

 the benefits of uniform inspection rules. Mr. MeCulIough was un- 

 avoidably absent, and the paper was read by T. W. Howard of the 

 same association. 



The importance of the place filled by wood in the vehicle industry 

 was made apparent by the statement that seventy-five per cent of the 

 cost of the ordinary farm wagon is represented by the wood, and that 

 the demand of wood for vehicles of that class is greater at this time 

 than it ever was before in this country. In 1904 there were forty- 

 one diflferent heights of farm wagon wheels, the different manufactur- 

 ers adhering to the kinds made by their forefathers. This illus- 

 trates, in one instance, the need of standards. The work was com- 

 menced, and already much headway has been made in simplifying 

 the demands upon wood, not only in the matter of wheels, but in all 

 departments of vehicle building. 



Minnesota's Commanding Position 



Frank K. Rodman of Cincinnati, wlio was sclieduled to speak on 

 lumbermen 's clubs, was unable to attend the meeting, and his place 

 was filled by A. S. Bliss of Minneapolis, but the address was on a 

 different subject. lie eulogized the state of Minnesota from center to 

 circumfereneo, i^cludiug its ten thousand lakes and its billions of fish, 

 and then took up the subject of the Northwestern Hardwood Lumber- 

 men's Association whicb was organized in 1889. 



He laid special emphasis upon the history of lumber inspection as it 

 has been practiced in that association. Compromise and arbitration 

 have been made much use of in settling controversies among the mem- 

 bers and it has generally proved satisfactory. 

 Eastern Markets 



Russell J. Perrine, who is now serving his sixth consecutive term 

 as president of the New York Lumber Trade Association, devoted 

 his address to the eastern markets, and particularly to the need of 

 satisfactory inspection arrangements. New York City has no ofScial 

 inspection rules for hardwood lumber. The use of the rules of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association has been much hindered by 

 the frequeut changes which were made from time to time. The result 

 of the changes following one another at short intervals was that 

 those who would have liked to employ and follow the rules were dis- 

 couraged from doing so. The speaker declared tliat, in his opinion, 

 if the insiJection rules could be made more permanent, and the custom 

 of frequent changes could be abolished, the chance for their adoption 

 by the New York Lumber Trade Association would be fair. 



The business outlook for hardwood lumber from the New York 

 viewpoint shows unmistakable signs of improvement, but hope still 

 points to the future as the time for the consummation of that result. 

 Honest methods will bear results, declared the speaker, and such 

 methods cannot be too strongh' urged upon those who are looking for 

 an expansion of business. 



Southern Hardwood Conditions 



Memphis, Tenn., is regarded as an important center from which to 

 study the southern hardwood situation, and the official program car- 

 ried the name of C. G. Kadel, president of the Lumberman's Club of 

 Memphis, for a discussion of the situation in that district. 



He announced that business is on the upward trend there, as far as 

 increased sales of lumber were concerned, but the upward tendency of 

 prices is not yet so noticeable as is the growing demand for hardwood 

 lumber. It is believed, however, that price will soon follow demand. 



The saw mills in the Memphis district are said to be 50,000,000 feet 

 short in their log supply at this time. The Mississippi flood failed to 

 materialize this spring, and the effect seems to be apparent in prices 

 of lumber. At any rate, when the whole country, heretofore, has suf- 

 fered from the customary deluge poured down by the Father of 

 Waters, the result has been noted in a stiffening of lumber prices 

 which was to the advantage of those who were so fortunate as to have 

 lumber on which they could quote prices. It is unfortunate, however, 

 that loss in quantity of lumber after a flood is often more than an 

 offset for any increase in price on what remains. 



The Lumberman's Club of Memphis had seventy-eight members in 

 attendance at the meeting of the association at Hotel Sherman. 



The Wholesaler's Place 



George J. Pope, president of the Lumbermen's Club of Chicago, 

 addressed the association on the subject of the place in the lumber 

 business now occupied, and which ought to be occupied, by the whole- 

 saler. He recounted some of the history of the lumber trade by way 

 of illustration of the changes in the position of wholesalers. In 1882 

 there were no wholesale yards in Chicago ; at this time the invest- 

 ment in that branch of the business totals $4,800,000 in this city. 



There is no reason why the wholesalers and the manufacturers of 

 lumber should be hostile. Each has a place to fill, and each is neces- 

 sary to the success of the other. Unfortunately, there has been a 

 disposition in some quarters, on the part of producers, to regard the 

 wholesaler as an enemy; but that disposition would exist no longer 

 if proper distinction were made between honest and dishonest whole- 

 salers. 



Many small sawmills must sell through the wholesaler because they 

 do not possess suflScient capital to market their own output. They 

 must realize on a car as soon as possible after it is loaded, and 

 the wholesale yard enables them to do this. Small mills, as a rule, 

 follow the large mill and clean up what is left, and they thus fill an 

 important place. 



The true function of the wholesale lumber dealer, said Mr. Pope, 

 is to supply a distributing center at tlie lowest cost consistent with 

 sound business principles. 



The Export Situation 



A paper on the outlook for the lumber export business was read 

 by George D. Burgess, of Memphis, Tenn., president of the National 

 Lumber Exporters' Association. He quoted rates on shipments across 

 the Atlantic which show that the charge for carrying lumber is now 

 four or five times as high as it was ten months ago, at the beginning 

 of the war. That has hit the export business a hard blow, and has 

 indirectly depressed the market at home, because the lessening of 

 foreign shipments has resulted in throwing that much more lumber 

 on the domestic market, and falling prices result. It is laid down 

 as a law of trade, proved by experience, that when exports of lumber 

 decline, the home price declines also. 



Mr. Burgess took the present situation as a text for argument in 

 support of a merchant marine. That would relieve the depression in 

 our export trade; but he contended that before American ships can 

 make any headway in carrying products to foreign countries, radical 

 changes must be made in the laws governing our merchant marine. 

 These changes can be best reached by prompt and complete repeal 

 of inimical statutes now on the books and which place unnecessary 

 burdens on American vessels engaged in foreign trade. Among such 

 burdens is the law which requires more employes on a ship than 

 there is any need of. Another is the regulation which demands the 

 overstatement of a ship's tonnage. In some instances the American 

 measurement makes a vessel forty per cent larger than it is rated 

 under British measurement. That excessive tonnage adds to the 

 charges which a vessel must pay when it enters a foreign port. 



Mr. Burgess said he expected to see a rapid lowering in ocean 

 rates after the close of the war. 



Down in Indiana 



C. H. Kramer, Richmond, Ind., president of the Indiana Hardwood 

 Lumbermen's Association, was booked for an address on state lumber 

 associations, but he confined his talk largely to the work of the asso- 

 ciation in his own state. Its function, he said, combines social fea- 

 tures with serious business. The social end of it is regarded as by 

 no mean unimportant, because it makes the members acquainted with 

 one another and that counts much in conducting the real business of 

 the association. 



Twentieth Century Problems 



The program called for an address by E. F. Trefz, field secretary 

 of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. His subject re- 

 lated to the relations between the national chamber and trade asso- 

 ciations; but having been called away, his jdaee on the program was 

 filled by Harry F. Atwood of Chicago, who spoke of ' ' Twentieth 

 Century Problems. ' ' 



The address took the form of a protest against too much law 

 making, too many commissions, too many attacks by agitators and 

 ignoramuses upon the business men and business institutions of the 



